The last 2 home games that the Hornets have played couldn’t have been more different, but both resulted in victories. My sincerest apologies for not writing a recap after every game, but the fact of the matter is that when something like this is your hobby, it isn’t always easy to find the time to sit down and put together thoughts on games played. Instead, I’m trying to never let it get to be more than 2 games before I crank out an article to try and convey what was witnessed. Thank you for your support and continuing to follow and read what I do put out there.
Let me start with the Sixers game. Bless their hearts; they haven’t won a game yet in the 2015-2016 season. I can say bless their hearts because I can remember not so long ago when the Bobcats were 7 – BLAH for a season. Losing sucks and it isn’t easy being a fan of a team that isn’t winning games. I can also remember teams that haven’t won any games, and the Bobcats being the team that let them win the first one. I was worried about the latter of the 2 on this past Friday night. I’m not saying that I don’t have confidence in my Hornets, but I will say that after so many years of bad basketball in Charlotte, as a fan, I’ve been conditioned to always expect the worst. We used to struggle to win games that should be “sure-thing” victories, and we would win games that no one expected us to win. It’s just hard to get that feeling to go away. The Hornets did their job though on Friday. Seeing numbers like 25 assists and 49.4% field goal shooting warms my heart. 10 blocks, 7 steals, 95.5% foul shooting also made me smile. When I see 5 players well into double-figures, that usually indicates we did what was necessary to win games. The Hornets did everything right on Friday, other than a lapse in defense, which seems to be a trend with us. (That is currently one of the biggest issues that we need to work on. I’ll cover more on that sort of thing later.) The final score Friday was 113 – 88. Al Jefferson was top scorer, leading all scorers with 26 points. Kemba Walker added 20, Nic Batum scored 14, Jeremy Lamb added 13, Marvin Williams chipped in 11, and Jeremy Lin, with his first start of the year, added 9 points. I should also add that Frank Kaminsky was perfect from the floor, scoring 9 points on 4-4 shooting from the floor (1-1 from 3-point land). He also had 3 assists, 3 rebounds, 2 blocks, and did not turn the ball over any.
Flash forward to last night’s game. The Hornets faced a tougher opponent in the Sacramento Kings. The 5-10 Kings came into Charlotte after winning their game in Orlando on Saturday night. How many excuses can I generate as to why the Hornets were able to beat the Kings last night? I mean, the national media (I’m looking at you ESPN) always needs to state some reason that the Hornets were able to win a game it seems. Last night, the come-from-22-points-down victory was the starter story for SportsCenter, but of course the words that needed to be muttered over and over was DeMarcus Cousins and his sore back being in and out of the game. What else could we throw in there to blame the Kings for losing? They did get 1 less game rest. They weren’t at home. Caron Butler and Seth Curry didn’t play. I’m done. A win is a win, and no matter what someone wants to pin on the losing team for the Hornets to win, the Hornets did it. Leave the blame-placing to me. I’ll keep it as real as I can.
So to scratch the surface, the Hornets defeated the Kings 127 – 122 in overtime. Not real exciting, right? Let’s delve further into the game, shall we? As mentioned above, defense is a problem. I’ve made mention before that the starters have to play to their potential in order to win games. I’ve stated that the bench can’t be expected carry the team to victories. That’s something that happened for a couple games so far this season. So why mention this at all? Well, most of last night was a shootout between the Kings and Hornets. In seasons past, the Hornets would lose any shootout they got themselves into. We just didn’t have the firepower to keep up. Flash forward to this season, and we seem to have the firepower to keep up with many of the NBA teams in terms of shooting. The problem with that, however, is that it seems that the price we paid for being able to score was a lapse in defense. As the season progresses, I believe that we will overcome that problem and we’ll be pretty solid by the all-star break. If you didn’t watch the game, you’re probably wondering why I’m harping on defense. We were neck in neck with the Kings until the 3rd quarter. That was the horrible quarter where the Kings built a 22-point lead. The part of me that has been scarred as a Bobcats fan said that this game was pretty much over. Hey’ it’s hard to not say. Instead, the 2015-16 Charlotte Hornets made me bee-lieve in them. I watched staggering defense and amazing offense. I saw a 22-point deficit erased and a team go up 2 points, off of a Kemba Walker drive to the basket. Unfortunately, 0.7 seconds was enough time for Rudy gay to tip in a shot to force overtime. In the “free basketball” time The Hornets, led by some guys usually found on the bench (Zeller, Kaminsky, and Lin) fought their way to a victory. Monster screens set by Cody Zeller freed up Lin to score 8 points in overtime. Add in a 3-pointer by Frank Kaminsky, and 4 points from Kemba, and that was what it took to win the game.
Kemba had a game high 39 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, and 3 blocks for the Hornets. Nic Batum helped out with 18 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 steals and a block. Al Jefferson didn’t see any time in the overtime or down the stretch in the 4th. This was due primarily to the matchup with Cousins, who plays more like a 4 now, with not nearly as much post-up plays, and his scoring from around the perimeter. Al did finish on the night with 10 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, a steal, and a blocked shot in 23 minutes of playing time. These guys had help from 3 other double-figures scorers:
Jeremy Lin – 14 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, and a block
Cody Zeller – 12 points, 6 rebounds, and a steal
Jeremy Lamb – 11 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, and a steal
Standout negative for me for the night was 19 turnovers. Positives would include 48 rebounds, 26 free throws taken, and shooting 50% from the floor. Frank Kaminsky had another good performance, scoring 9 points on the night along with 5 rebounds. I still believe in a future with Zeller at the 5 and Kaminsky at the 4. It will make for quite a fun team to watch.
Remember how I was fussing about ESPN making excuses for how we win? Well, last night’s excuse was that DeMarcus Cousins had a sore back. He wasn’t in the game, and that was basically the hint as to why we won. Cousins had 30 points on the night. He had 11 rebounds. He had an assist, a steal, and 3 blocks. Rajon Rondo had 20 assists and 14 points. Rudy Gay had 28 points, 10 rebounds, and a steal. Marco Belinelli had 17 points, 3 assists, and 2 steals. So, why did the Kings lose? I’m going out on a limb here: The Hornets played their hearts out when it mattered the most and came away with a victory.
Let’s leave it at that.
Wednesday, the Washington Wizards come to town. We need to keep this win streak going because wins and losses against Wizards could have playoff implications towards the end of the season. Every game matters and we need to snag this 9th win against a tough Eastern Conference team.
Let’s Go Hornets!
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